<p>Business4sure, I checked some of your past posts and you seem to be quite hung up with prestige and ranking colleges. Instead of attempting to rank colleges, spend your time researching schools to find which one is the best fit for you. This will be a much more fruitful expenditure of your time than engaging in the CC obsession with prestige and rankings.</p>
<p>You received a great deal of feedback in this thread regarding your original question about IB. Although there were varying opinions about the subject, I think you got a lot of material to consider.</p>
<p>Parent57, you have to realize I am in a different boat than most students. I didn’t apply and get in. I am a recruited athlete, hence I have to go ED. I want to make sure I am making the right decision. It’s in SoCal, so obviously weather is great, etc. I wouldn’t be posting on this thread if I had not done my research of academics and life at the school.</p>
<p>Now please, haha, try to address my question.</p>
<p>Business4sure, I think Parent57 just gave you some excellent advice. If you look at the other active threads in the Pomona section, you’ll see more passion over getting into this college than you’ll find for almost any other. Does that, in and of itself, mean Pomona’s right for you? Absolutely (and obviously) not. I know someone who loved her years at Pomona, yet she encouraged her kid to go to CMC because it was a better fit for what she thought wanted to do, and more importantly, who she was (fwiw, my Pomona friend has had a very successful corporate career). As a recruited athlete, I am sure you have heard over and over again that you should pick your college assuming that you were going to get injured and have to deal with all of the non-sport aspects of that college. The same can also be said about career paths. What happens if you decide that IB isn’t for you? Will you be at a college where you’ll have other options to follow? It’s good that you’re asking questions, just make sure you are asking the ones that will do you the most good in the long run.</p>
<p>I came across this thread doing a google search and wanted to weigh in. I am one of the people whose profile was posted in a prior thread, a Pomona alumni who went into investment banking upon graduation. Here are a few pieces of information:
The recruiting for IB is common across all claremont colleges. There is no difference in access, ability to get interviews, etc. There is not a priority for CMC or even Pomona for that matter (a Pitzer student has the same access). With that said, there is a slight bias in the actual employer community for CMC grads. However, this bias is easily overcome by a Pomona student with much higher GPA, assuming they are an econ major. All of this is key to securing an interview. Once the interview is secured, school matters less. You need to demonstrate knowledge and passion for IB – part of this is certainly showing awareness of what IB is really about, and CMC would arguably prep you better for this, although you can overcome this easily.
the claremont colleges as a whole have suffered for IB recruiting since the financial crisis. Other schools (as another poster suggestion, such as Amherst/Williams) are almost certainly better bets for IB (ignoring other considerations)
the claremonts are generally stronger as regional IB focus schools — LA banks and, to a lesser extent, SF banks. Even in these regions, I would say that Pomona/Claremont are 3rd or 4th on west coast behind (in order) Stanford, Haas and (maybe) UCLA.
Don’t overly focus on IB. When you get to IB, you’ll realize that all the young IBers want to leave IB for greener pastures of private equity, venture capital and hedge funds. The poster who pointed out that many of the sample Pomona alumni are not currently in IB are missing this point – many of us have moved beyond IB to PE et al. To underscore the ongoing CMC vs Pomona debate, KKR (2 founders are CMC grads and prolific donors) has hired more Pomona guys than CMC guys.
*The most important factors for you to get an IB job, assuming you’re selecting from any top tier school, are your major, GPA, internship/resume and knowledge/passion about IB (including acctg/finance knowhow)</p>
<p>^^I guess the other piece to the puzzle here is, how much accounting experience did you have prior to your initial interview and how did you acquire it?</p>
<p>you need to be pretty quick with basic accounting. i was self taught, there are courses you can take at pomona and CMC. The ibanking accounting questions are pretty focused. If you are smart enough to get great grades in econ at pomona, you can pick up accounting!</p>
<p>I’m curious about business4sure’s decision. Where did you end up going?
Although you have probably already made your decision because you’re applying ED, I will let you know firsthand that anyone at the Claremonts with a good GPA (preferably 3.5,3.6 or higher) and solid resume and interviewing skills can land an IB offer. There seems to be some confusing information on this thread, but generally the Claremonts place very well in IB for those who are qualified. While it is true that there are several more people interested in finance and IB at CMC, your chances are not hurt by attending Pomona, or any of the other 5Cs for that matter. In terms of your other choices, I’d say Uchicago probably places higher than the other schools. I’d compare Amherst/Williams to the 5Cs in terms of amt. of people they place in IB in their respective coasts, though of course there are those who get offers in NY from the 5Cs and those from Amherst/Williams who go to California. In my opinion, and of course it is biased, Pomona and the 5Cs would be the best choice because you will have good chances with IB while enjoying arguably the best collegiate quality of life and enjoyment that comes with the 5Cs(again biased)</p>